15th Anniversary of Spider-Man (2002)

[Spike Spiegel]

We all got the chance to go for the "ultimate spin" on May 3rd, 2002. Anybody here have special memories of the event?

I remember seeing this film twice in the theater with my late father. The first ad I saw for it aired on a Friday afternoon, during Cartoon Network's Toonami block.

Even though I am aware now as an adult of the Raimi trilogy's flaws, and now think of Spectacular Spider-Man as the best film/TV adaptation ever, this one still holds a special place in my heart and I recall feeling rather excited for any potential sequel it would have. I got the DVD for Christmas that year and found the Sam Raimi/Kirsten Dunst commentary on the movie to be quite funny and interesting...and I remember searching for all the Easter eggs.

I also recall that Kirsten Dunst was quite attractive to me as a young lad feeling the first pangs of puberty...I don't think she ever looked better in either of the sequels.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Believe it or not, there's apparently a Spider-Man 3.1 coming this year in a 15th anniversary box set.

[DestronMirage22]

I still love this trilogy, flaws and all. I've got good memories of watching these films with my family.

Originally Posted by TheSkeletonMan939

Believe it or not, there's apparently a Spider-Man 3.1 coming this year in a 15th anniversary box set.

Awesome!

[ZariusTwo]

It's dated horribly and 2 is better, but it's still a cut above a lot of comic book movies. It says a lot when we're now three movies on from the Raimi trilogy and there's still no sign of anyone that could replace Simmons as Jameson.

[ProphetofGanja]

Originally Posted by TheSkeletonMan939

Believe it or not, there's apparently a Spider-Man 3.1 coming this year in a 15th anniversary box set.

I'm highly curious as to what that entails

Originally Posted by ZariusTwo

It's dated horribly and 2 is better, but it's still a cut above a lot of comic book movies. It says a lot when we're now three movies on from the Raimi trilogy and there's still no sign of anyone that could replace Simmons as Jameson.

Yeah, to me that's the DCEU's one win against the MCU, snatching Simmons away before casting for Spider-Man could begin. Oh well, maybe the Daily Prophet won't even come into play until after Homecoming.

[TheSkeletonMan939]

Originally Posted by ProphetofGanja

I'm highly curious as to what that entails

So is everyone else. Its runtime is a full 2 minutes shorter than the theatrical version, which has some people thinking it's just Raimi cutting away the emo Peter garbage. I hope it's more than that, though (restored scenes, etc.)

[Autbot_Benz]

Saw Spider Man when I was in middle school. Not a fan of Tobey his Peter/Spider man was to whiny. Years Later love it as a Sam Raimi Movie and that Bruce Campbell played the Ring Announcer at the wrestling event. Also Macho Man as Bonesaw was classic.

[DarkFell]

For me, the movie helped to kindle an interest for the web-slinger. The awesome didn't stop there - ABC Family aired Spider-Man: TAS. Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends was also aired for about a week, along with Ultimate Spider-Man. I assume it was due to generate some interest for the movie.

Spoiler contains some addition info.

Spoiler:

I read from a magazine (I think?) that the original Spider-Man was set to be released in 2001 for theaters, but it got pushed to May 2002 due to the World Trade Center Tower / Pentagon attacks.

But, I did find a deleted scene that was mentioned..

Spider-Man – The original Sam Raimi film had a scene of Spidey capturing a helicopter between the towers. This was removed from the trailer, though it was never intended for the finished film.

https://www.phactual.com/movies-affected-by-911/

[Shark_Blade]

I hate Tobey Maguire as Peter Parker.

[sdp]

I also had a huge crush on Kristen Dunst, I was still in my early teens though and I was shocked by how they had her in a wet t-shirt since it was meant to be a kids movie. MJ might not be the best in the movies but she did ok, I really like the first film. I didn't watch 2 and 3 until a few years later, 2 is really good though Dr. Octopus shouldn't be a villain we feel bad for, it's also quite good. 3 I didn't feel it really is that bad of a film, it's similar enough to the first two. Shoving the Green Goblin and Venom was a bit much though and the movie suffers because of it but man does it get too much undeserved hate. Tobey was a good peter but not a great Spider-Man. These movies changed superhero movies forever and started the fad that Marvel Studios has been riding on.

Spider-Man 3 could've worked so much better if they hadn't shoved venom in. I know the studios wanted it but he barely appears and they could've still had the black suit spider-man stuff and left you hanging for Spider-Man 4, basically mostly the same with how things played out but instead of having Venom appear save that for a whole movie. They absolutely needed to finish off the Harry/GGII arc since it needed a pay off. Sandman could've been used but he needed to be a minor villain, like Scarecrow in Begins. I'm guessing the studios and Raimi still had the "it's a trilogy" mentality and needed to shove everything in since no one expected superheroes to be able to have more than a trilogy. I also thought that Mary Jane should've been killed in 3 and have Gwen be the new love interest for future movies, a reverse of what the comics had done to add some stakes, it made sense since at the time Kristen Dunst said she didn't know if she'd return for another sequel and at the time she had other projects and felt above Spider-Man.

Now Spider-Man 4, it sounded horrible from the whole Vulture being the villain..which later changed to the Vultress if IIRC but I would've liked to have seen this series continue. Even after Raimi moved on, instead of rebooting they already had good films so they shoud've continued the storylines with new actors, even if it were a soft reboot with slight changes but it was a mistake to start all over with Amazing Spider-Man. Dr. Conners had already had 3 movies worth of exposure and made his appearance as a villain much more interesting than say "the vultress" and in general Spider-Man has so much to play with.